Free Republic

Animal rights activists are behind the burning of cattle trucks at the Harris Ranch truck lot early Sunday, according to a statement from the purported arsonists. The statement, released Monday, describes how the fire, which heavily damaged 14 tractors and several trailers, was set and says the attack was aimed at "the horrors of factory farming." Spokeswoman Nicoal R. Sheen of the Animal Liberation Press Office, which released the statement, said the office doesn't take part in illegal actions but distributes communiqués from those who do. Fresno County sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said detectives are looking into the claim. He...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmentalists reached an agreement Friday that scraps a rule the agency had used to kill or permanently remove any wolf that killed three heads of livestock in a year. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tom Buckley said the three-strikes rule "will no longer stand." Ranchers said the policy targeted wolves that grow accustomed to preying on cattle. Several environmental groups sued in May 2008, asking a U.S. District Court in Arizona to stop the removal policy on the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf. Buckley said agency officials hope a judge...

In 1995 the federal government began transplanting Canadian gray wolves into Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. That program touched off a fierce range war that continues to rage, pitting farmers, ranchers, hunters, conservationists, outdoor recreationists, and rural folk against the major environmentalist lobbying organizations, government bureaucrats, the big-city media, and urban politicians. After being protected for 14 years, limited hunting seasons have finally been allowed for wolves this fall, and around 150 wolves have been taken thus far. Wolf advocates are howling that the permitted hunts are "barbaric" and that those who kill wolves are "murderers." A coalition of radical environmental...

Wild horses are icons of the West, but growing herds have become a costly problem. Tribes say the horses damage their land and need to be managed — maybe by bringing back slaughterhouses.WARM SPRINGS INDIAN RESERVATION —Here on this reservation in north-central Oregon, horses are woven deeply into daily life. They are traditionally used by tribal members in their work and their culture, whether it be for rodeos or horse parades. Gathering, breaking and selling wild horses has long been part of the tribe's economy. Horses that don't make the grade are sold for slaughter. But the nation's final three...

The state has started shooting wolves from helicopters in Alaska's eastern interior hoping to turn around an unsuccessful aerial predator control program there.FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The state has started shooting wolves from helicopters in Alaska's eastern interior hoping to turn around an unsuccessful aerial predator control program there. The project has raised concerns among officials at nearby Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, where predator control is prohibited. Department of Fish and Game workers shot and killed about 30 wolves from a helicopter Saturday in the Fortymile area east of Tok. The focus area is the Fortymile Caribou Herd's calving grounds adjacent...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://sanfrancisco.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/sf022009.htm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2009 Four Extremists Arrested for Threats and Violence Against UC Researchers On February 19 and 20, the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested four animal rights extremists suspected of terrorizing University of California researchers. A complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday alleged Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach, California; Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside, California; Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley, California; and Maryam Khajavi, 20, of Pinole, California used force, violence, or threats to interfere with the operation of the University of California in...

It's a scene that brings laughter and cheers from visitors to a Japanese aquarium - two white beluga whales wearing Santa hats. But environmentalists are saddened by the sight of what they say is the final humiliation for the whale in a country that hunts them down with harpoons. The beluga whales have been fitted out with the cute Santa hats to entertain the crowds at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on Yokohama Island. There's even a chance to receive a wet kiss under the mistletoe from a yuletide beluga.

Schumacher Furs & Outerwear, after 111 years of business and one solid year of fervent animal-rights protests, is hanging it up in Portland. Owner Gregg Schumacher, who depicts the city's core as dangerous and not conducive to retailers, said Tuesday that he's moving his shop to the suburbs, though he wouldn't say where. "We're leaving downtown Portland because we feel that it's losing its appeal for people to shop in" said Schumacher, 51, rattling off a list of what he called his customers' complaints. "The panhandling, the musicians on the street, the urination in the parking garages. Yes, the protests....

One woman said she received an e-mail threatening to cut her 7-year-old son open and stuff him with poison. A man said he was showered with glass as people smashed all the windows of his home and overturned his wife's car. Many others said they were besieged by screaming protesters outside their homes at all hours, deluged by threatening phone calls, and sent pornographic magazines they had not ordered. The trauma that employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences and other companies say they experienced at the hands of radical animal rights advocates is on display during the federal court trial of...

A naked performance artist who says she experienced fantasies of "interspecies metamorphoses" while working with dead pigs has angered British animal rights activists. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticized an exhibition where artist Kira O'Reilly sits naked for hours with a dead pig, planned for Friday evening at the Newlyn Art Gallery in Penzance, southwest England.

Australians promote humanitarian acts by trading beers for live toads Mar 20, 2006 - Animal activists in Australia have set up a toad-for-beer exchange in order to promote humanitarian disposal of toads. RSPCA Australia, Coopers Brewery in the Cavenagh Hotel in Darwin teamed with three Darwin organizations after a local film aired depicting toad hunters in a simulated orgy of killing. Here's how it works: Anyone over the age of 18 who captures a toad and delivers it alive to the Darwin RSPCA qualifies for a glass of Coopers beer at the Cavenagh Hotel. Sean Gould of Coopers said the...

<p>Federal authorities in New Jersey and three other states charged members of an animal rights organization yesterday with domestic terrorism after a probe into what they said has been a surge in crimes by militant activists fighting to stop product testing on animals.</p>

The circus arrived Tuesday bringing clowns, elephants, high-wire acts -- and a more aggressive attitude against animal rights protesters. Dogged by activists for years -- and pretty much taking it -- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is defending its handling of animals in brochures distributed to circus fans, at its Web site -- www.ringling.com -- and by incorporating fightin' word language in first-strike press materials. Tonight, the circus is allowing media to tour its animal stables at the Allstate Arena, a first. In advance of the circus' arrival, in a letter to Chicago media, Ringling's local publicist warned of...

SULTAN, Wash. (AP) - Snohomish County mink farmers, who produce almost half the mink raised in Washington, worry there will be more ecoterrorism attacks like Monday's release of about 10,000 animals from a family farm here. ``These farmers are on pins and needles,'' said Teresa Platt, executive director of the industry group Fur Commission USA. ``People should be on alert because the pattern with these groups is to hit again and in a short period of time.'' The FBI, which is leading the investigation, suspects an out-of-state group is responsible for the mink release at the Roesler Brothers Fur Farm...